That such a question can be asked is a symbol of the incendiary state of the region, the mutual distrust of Arabs and Israelis, and the dangerous border of southern Lebanon which was -- as so often -- drenched in the blood of three Lebanese soldiers, an Israeli lieutenant-colonel and a Lebanese journalist outside an otherwise nondescript village called Addaiseh.

And after the tank shells, Israeli helicopter missile attacks, Lebanese machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire, the UN called for "restraint" and the battle died down under the eyes of a Spanish UN battalion and a few soldiers from Malaysia.

But this comes after a tripartite Arab summit in Beirut, mysterious rocket attacks on the borders of Jordan, Israel and Egypt two days ago, a claim by the Lebanese Hizbollah that the UN inquiry into the murder of ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri was an "Israeli project", and the discovery of yet another alleged Israeli spy in the Lebanese telephone network.

But back to the tree. It was a miserable, scrawny thing, probably a spruce and -- after a 46-degree heatwave in Lebanon -- its foliage blocked the Israeli security cameras near Addaiseh. The Israelis decided to use a crane to rip it out. But no one is exactly sure where the Israeli-Lebanese border is. In 2000, the UN drew a "Blue Line" along what was the frontier between French mandate Lebanon and British mandate Palestine.

Behind it, from the Lebanese point of view, stands the Israeli "technical fence", a mass of barbed and electrified wire and sandy roads (to look for footprints). So when the Lebanese army saw the Israelis manoeuvre a crane up to the fence yesterday , they began to shout at the Israelis to move back.

Fence

The moment the crane's arm crossed the "technical fence" -- and the "Blue Line" does not necessarily run along the "fence" -- Lebanese soldiers opened fire into the air. The Israelis, according to the Lebanese, did not shoot in the air. They shot at the Lebanese soldiers.

Briefly, Lebanon's much-abused mobile-phone system almost collapsed. Not because of Milad Ein, the alleged spy who worked for the Ogero landline communications company.